Attempting to land on a rotating comet racing through the solar system at 150,000 mph is no easy feat.

But why bother trying, when you can just fire off a harpoon to collect samples at a safe distance with surgical precision?

That’s exactly what Nasa is attempting to do with its prototype designs of a space harpoon which it hopes will return rock samples that could reveal the origins of planets.

Scroll down for video

Nasa is developing prototype designs of a space harpoon. Pictured is an artist's concept of a tethered 'penetrator' heading toward a celestial body to take a sample

‘This technology will be able for the first time to pull samples of the order of a few kilograms from depths of a few metres, which could greatly enhance our knowledge of solar system objects,’ Robert Winglee of the University of Washington wrote in a Nasa report.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

‘Moreover, it offers the opportunity to take multiple samples at little extra cost so that it will provide much greater flexibility and greatly enhance the science return for any given mission,’ he added.

The conventional way to do a robotic sample-return mission is to perform a soft landing on a celestial object, collect small amounts of material and then return it to Earth.

The technology will be able, for the first time, to pull samples of the order of a few kilograms from depths of a few metres from celestial objects such as comets

COULD SPACE HARPOONS HELP CLEAN UP SPACE JUNK?

While Nasa is looking at the use of harpoons to collect samples for celestial bodies, British engineers believe similar technology could be used to clear up space junk.

Stevenage-based Astrium has plans to develop 'chase' satellite fitted with five or more harpoons which can fire at a moving target.

Using laser and radar guidance systems, a piece of space junk would be targeted, and then captured with a gas-propelled harpoon on a tether.

Once the space junk is secured, a smaller sub-satellite detaches from the chase satellite and pulls the junk downwards to burn up as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.

Then the chase satellite would search out another target. Experts hope the system could remove around five pieces of space debris a year.

This is what the Rosetta probe is planning to do in August when it reaches the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko– one of the most risky parts of its mission.

‘We're not talking about doing that,’ Professor Winglee said earlier this month, according to a report in Space.com.

‘We're talking about using the kinetic energy of the spacecraft as it's moving past the object, and we're not asking the system to brake, so you save energy.’

The team's design currently uses a sample-return spacecraft to carry six, rocket-shaped penetrators, which would be fired down at the celestial body during a flyby.

The penetrators, attached to a tether, would hit at a high speed of up to 2,240 mph (3,605 km/h, or 1 km/sec) and go deep beneath the surface.

Several pounds of material would then be collected in a tube, which would be reeled back in to send back to Earth.

Researchers have been testing the equipment by firing test harpoons into a 55-gallon drum full of cometary simulant - sand, salt, pebbles or a mixture of each.

The bow string is pulled back by an electric winch to generate a precise level of force, up to 1,000 pounds, firing the harpoon at 70mph.

The team's design currently uses a sample-return spacecraft to carry six, rocket-shaped penetrators, which would be fired down at the celestial body during a flyby. A demonstration of the sample collection chamber is pictured

Lead engineer Donald Wegel said: ‘We had to bolt it to the floor, because the recoil made the whole testbed jump after every shot.

'We're not sure what we'll encounter on the comet – the surface could be soft and fluffy, mostly made up of dust, or it could be ice mixed with pebbles, or even solid rock.

'Most likely, there will be areas with different compositions, so we need to design a harpoon that's capable of penetrating a reasonable range of materials.’

Comets are frozen chunks of ice and dust left over from our solar system's formation.

As such, scientists want a closer look at them for clues to the origin of planets and ultimately, how life formed on Earth.

The technology could be used to collect samples from comets that could reveal how life forms on other planets. Pictured is Comet Ison before it burnt up following a flyby close to the sun